OpenFOAM.app: OpenFOAM for macOS

Native OpenFOAM as a Mac app, with binaries compiled from the OpenFOAM source code. Intel and Apple silicon variants.

🍏 Prerequisites

• An Intel or Apple silicon Mac
• A recent version of macOS
  • Intel: macOS 11 or later (older macOS versions might work, but are not tested)
  • Apple silicon: macOS 12 (macOS 11 should also work, but is not tested)

📦 Install

Install in one of two ways:

• ⬇️ Install with Homebrew

  With Homebrew installed on your Mac, run any of the following commands in a terminal, depending on which version(s) of OpenFOAM you want:

  • OpenFOAM v2206

    brew install --no-quarantine gerlero/openfoam/openfoam2206
    

  • OpenFOAM v2112

    brew install --no-quarantine gerlero/openfoam/openfoam2112
    

  The commands will automatically pick the appropriate variant for your hardware, and will also collect all necessary dependencies. The --no-quarantine option tells macOS Gatekeeper to allow running the apps despite the fact that they are not currently notarized by Apple (you can also override Gatekeeper manually when opening the app for the first time–see below). After the install command finishes, you should see a new OpenFOAM app installed on your Mac.

  🖥 ParaView: if you'll need ParaView for visualization, you may as well install it with Homebrew too.

  🗑 Uninstall: to uninstall, run brew uninstall openfoam2206 (replace the openfoam2206 name accordingly). After that, you can run brew autoremove to also remove installed dependencies that are no longer required.

• ⬇️ Manual download and install (standalone app)

  Download the latest version of the app using these links:

  OpenFOAM v2206	OpenFOAM v2112
  ⬇️ Intel / x86_64	⬇️ Intel / x86_64
  ⬇️ Apple silicon / arm64	⬇️ Apple silicon / arm64

  Or choose the standalone release you want from the Releases page. Note that these standalone variants are available on an experimental basis.

  🖥 ParaView: if you need it, download the macOS version from the official site.

  🏗 Development tools: the standalone apps do not bundle or require a compiler or any other development tools. If you attempt to do something with OpenFOAM that would require a compiler (and you do not have Xcode or the Xcode Command Line Tools already installed), you should be prompted by the system to install the necessary tools from Apple.

  🗑 Uninstall: the standalone apps are self-contained. To uninstall, just drag the app into your Trash.

🧑‍💻 Use

Just launch the OpenFOAM app to start an OpenFOAM session in a new Terminal window.

That's it! When using OpenFOAM, a read-only volume will be loaded and visible in the Finder. The OpenFOAM installation lives inside this virtual disk. When you're not actively using OpenFOAM, it is safe to "eject" the volume from the Finder sidebar.

🛡 Gatekeeper: given that the app is not notarized by Apple, you may see a macOS Gatekeeper dialog that prevents you from opening the downloaded app. The simplest way to override this warning for this app only is to right-click on the app in a Finder window and select Open from the context menu. You only need to do this for the first launch of the app.

💻 From the command line: when installed with Homebrew, the app includes a terminal command that starts an OpenFOAM session. For example, the OpenFOAM-v2206 app provides the command:

openfoam2206

If you did not install with Homebrew, you can get the same by invoking the following command (replace the path and app name as needed):

/Applications/OpenFOAM-v2206.app/Contents/Resources/etc/openfoam

🔠 A note on case sensitivity: while in many situations OpenFOAM will work okay regardless (this mostly depends on the specific field names used by the different solvers), it is recommended that users format a separate drive or partition with a case-sensitive filesystem, or create a case-sensitive disk image (both of which can be accomplished with the built-in macOS Disk Utility) to store OpenFOAM-related user files (e.g. OpenFOAM cases).

⚙️ Background

Starting with OpenFOAM v2112, it is possible to compile OpenFOAM for macOS without code patches. However, the build process is not completely straightforward–mainly because OpenFOAM itself requires a case-sensitive filesystem, which is standard on Linux but not on macOS. Making a working OpenFOAM.app means creating a case-sensitive disk image for OpenFOAM and compiling it there, with third-party dependencies obtained with Homebrew. The disk image is then shrunk, write-protected, and packaged as a Mac application for easier distribution and use.

🔨 Building from source

If you need to, building an OpenFOAM.app entirely from source is easy as cloning this repo and running make, i.e.:

git clone https://github.com/gerlero/openfoam-app.git
cd openfoam-app
make

The Xcode Command Line Tools are required. See the available configuration variables and alternative targets for make in the Makefile. Note that the compilation of OpenFOAM and the necessary dependencies from source may take a while.

📄 Legal notices

Disclaimer

This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software via www.openfoam.com, and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks.

Trademark acknowledgement

OPENFOAM® is a registered trade mark of OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software via www.openfoam.com.